Ronald “Kwesi” Harris, longtime director of the African American Male Resource Center at Chicago State University, embodied Afrocentrism.
He believed in his people, and, as a college adviser, dedicated the past seven years to helping black men overcome obstacles to college and realize their potential.
Services were held Saturday for Mr. Harris, who died June 17 of cancer, according to the university. He was 56.
“This is a great loss to the university, especially to the young men whom he mentored and whose lives he changed for the better,” said Angela Henderson, the school’s provost. “He will be greatly missed.”
“Mr. Harris revitalized the center,” said Malik Nevels, executive director of the Illinois African American Coalition for Prevention, who called him “a mentor, community leader, educator and public health advocate.”
Chicago State plans to name the center Mr. Harris headed, as well as its Student Union Rotunda, after him.
He created the university’s Teaching and Educating Men of Black Origin program, known as T.E.M.B.O., which focuses on students’ development beyond academics. To fund it, he created an annual Ujamaa Market that raised over $20,000.
For 25 years, he hosted a Kwanzaa celebration, which, after outgrowing its earlier homes, is now held at Chicago State.
“Mr. Baba Kwesi leaves behind his outpouring legacy,” said Demetrius Johnson Jr., founder and president of the Historically Black Colleges & Universities Campaign Fund. “He played a strong and tremendous black activist role.”
Born in Chicago, Mr. Harris attended Simeon High School, where he took part in football and track. A 1977 graduate, he later returned as a football coach and was the first president of Simeon’s alumni association.
He got his bachelor’s degree in 1981 in education and social work from Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio.
On Sept. 8, 1990, he married his best friend, Donna Edgeworth, whom he called his “Queen.”
Before moving to Chicago State, Mr. Harris spent 20 years working at the Bobby E. Wright Comprehensive Behavioral Health Center on the West Side.
In the early 1990s, he’d co-founded the Citywide Coalition Against Tobacco & Alcohol Billboards, which opposed the ads targeting black and Latino youth. He served on the executive council of the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network and the National Advisory Council of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
At Chicago State, he’s credited with creating a National Poetry Month event to counter negative race images; the Continuing the Journey Conference for black male high school students, a speakers series and a Student Leadership/Social Action group.
“People often ask me, ‘What did you do to become the man that you are today?’ said Quentin Love, a South Side restaurateur. “Answer: Kwesi Ronald Harris. I was blessed to be mentored by one of the greatest men. He reminded me constantly of my African culture and that we had a duty as men to be an example.
“His spirit lives in every one of us that he touched.”
Mr. Harris was known for his motto — “Du da work” — and his signature “love checks.”
Besides his wife, survivors include three sons, Ravaughn, Cameron and Kyle; a daughter, Noranice Harris-Robinson; four grandsons; and two brothers and two sisters.
